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the Lost Symbol



Blindfolded, Robert Langdon could see nothing as the Escalade sped southward along the deserted streets.
On the the seat besides,
Peter Solomon remained silent.

Where is he taking me?

Langdon's curiosity was a mix of intrigue and apprehension,
his imagination in overdrive...

Peter had not wavered from his claim.

The Lost Word?
Buried at the bottom of a staircase that covered a massive,
engraved stone?

It all seemed impossible.

The stone's alleged engraving was still lodged in Langdon's memory...
and yet the seven symbols,
as far as he could tell,
made no sense together at all."

"The Stonemason's Square: the symbol of honesty and being "true."
The letters Au: the scientific abbreviation for the element of gold.
The Stigma: The Greek letter S, the mathematical symbol for the sum of all parts.
The Pyramid: the Egyptian symbol of man reaching heavenward.
The Delta; the Greek letter D, the mathematical symbol for change.
Mercury; as depicted by its most ancient alchemical symbol.
The Ouroboros: the symbol of wholeness and at-one-ment.

Solomon still insisted these seven symbols were a "message."

The Escalade slowed suddenly and turned sharply right,
onto a different surface,
as if into a driveway or access road.

Langdon perked up,
listening intently for clues as tto their whereabouts...
driving for less than ten inutes...Langdon had tried to follow in his mind...
lost his bearings...

For all he knew,
they were pulling back into the House of the Temple.

The Escalade came to a stop...
the window rolled down...


"Agent Simkins, CIA...
I believe your expecting us."

"Yes sir,"
a sharp military voice replied.

Director Sato phoned ahead.

One moment while I move the security barricade."



Langdon listened with rising confusion...
he turned his head blindly toward Solomon.

"Where are we, Peter?"

"Do not remove your blindfold."
Peter's voice was stern.

The vehicle continued a short distance and again slowed to a stop.
Simkins killed the engine.

More voices.

Military.

Someone asked for Simkins identification.

Langdon's door was suddenly being opened...

The air felt cold. It was windy.

Solomon was besides him.

"Robert,
just let Agent Simkins lead you inside."

Langdon heard metal keys in a lock...
and then the creak of a heavy iron door swinging open.

Where the hell are they taking me?!

Simkinss hand guided Langdon in the direction of a metal door.
They stepped over a threshold.

"Straight ahead Professor."

It was suddenly quiet.
Dead.
Deserted.

The air inside smelled sterile and processed...
The floor felt like stone beneath his loafers.

Behind them,
the metal door slammed loudly,
and Langdon jumped.
The locks turned.

He was sweating now beneath his blindfold...
there was a series of electronic beeps followed by an unexpected rumble in front of them...

Langdon imagined had to be a security door sliding open automatically...
They moved slowly...
across another thershold...
the security door rumbled shut behind them.

Peter stopped short. "Is there something wrong?"

Langdon was suddenly feeling queasy and off balanced.

"I think I just need to take off this blindfold."

"Not yet, we're almost there."

"Almost where?"

Langdon felt a growing heavinesss in the pit of his stomach.

"I told you~ I'm taking you to see the staircase that decends to the Lost Word."

"Peter, this isn't funny!"

"Its not meant to be.
It's meant to open youir mind, Robert.
Its meant to remind you that thre are mysteries in this world that even you have yet to lay eyes upon....

and before I take one more step with you,
I want you to do something for me.

I want you to believe...
just for an instant...
believe in the legend.

Believe that you are about to peer down a winding staircase that plunges hundreds of feet to one of humankind's greatest lost treasures."

Langdon felt dizzy.
As much as he wanted to believe his dear friend,
he could not.

"Is it much further?"
His hoodwink...
drenched in sweat.

"No.
Only a few more steps...
one last door.
I'll open it now."

Solomon let him go for a moment,
and as he did so,
Langdon swayed,
feeling lightheaded.

Unsteady, he reached out for stability,
and Peter was quickly back at his side.

The sound of a heavy automatic door rumbled in front of them.

"This way"...
the door slid closed behind them.

Silence. Cold.

Langdon...sensed...this place,
whatever it was,
had nothing to do on the other side of the security doors.

The air...dank and chilly, like a tomb.
The accoustics felt dull and cramped.

He felt an irrational bout of claustrophobia settling in.

"A few more steps."
solomon guided him blindfolded... and postioned him...

Finally, he said,

"Take off your blindfold."

Langdon seized the velvet hoodwink... tore it from his face...
He looked around...rubbed his eyes...Nothing.

"Peter,
Its pitch-black!"

"Yes I know...There's a railing.
Grasp it."

Langdon groped...and found an iron railing.

"Now watch."

He could hear Peter fumbling...
suddenly a blazing flashlight beam pierced the darkness...

Solomon directed the flashlight over the railing...
Langdon was suddenly staring into a bottomless shaft...
and endless winding staircase that plunged deep into the earth.

"My God!"

His knees nearly buckled...
The staircase...
a traditional square spiral...
he could see at least thirty landings descending...
before the flashlight faded to nothing.

"Peter...What is this place!"
"I'll take you to the bottom of the staircase in a moment,
but before I do,
you need to see something else"...

Peter kept the flashlight trained on the worn stone floor...
Langdon could get no real sense of the space around them...
except it was small.
A tiny stone chamber...
at the rooms opposite wall...
was embedded a rectangle of glass.

Langdon thought it might be a window into the room beyond,
and yet...he saw only darkness on the other side.

"Go ahead...Have a look."
Just look...and brace yourself.
because the sight will shock you."

Langdon moved toward the glass...
As he neared the portal,
Peter turned out the flashlight,
plunging the tiny chamber into total darkness.

As his eyes adjusted...his hands finding the glass,
moving closer to the transparent portal.

Still only darkness beyond...
pressing his face to the glass.

Then he saw it.

The wave and shock and disorientation that tore through Langdon's body reached doen inside and spun his internal compass upside down.

He nearly fell backward...
his mind strained to accept the utterly unanticipated sight...

Robert Langdon would never have guessed...
The vision was a glorious sight.

Langdon now understood...

the barricade on the access road...
the guards...the heavy metal door outside...
the automatic doors that rumbled open and closed...
the heaviness in his stomach...the lightness in his head...
and now this tiny chamber.

"Robert,"

Peter whispered behind him,

"sometimes a change of perceptive is all it takes to see the light."

Langdon had never seen the Capitol from this perspective~
hovering 555 feet in the air atop Amereica's great Egyptian obelisk...

for the first time in his life,
he had ridden the elevator up the tiny viewing chamber...at the pinnacle of the Washington Monument"


(TLS 478-82).