In chapter 93, Langdon battles with the Hassassin. He ends up hiding in an overturned sarcophagus.
In chapter 94, in the Sistine Chapel, the camerlengo tells the cardinals the horrible truth about everything that is happening. The camerlengo had two BBC reporters there also who would be transmitting his solemn statement, live, to the world. After explaining the entire situation, the camerlengo gives a statement directly to the camera. After his statement, Mortati understood. Conclave had been violated, but this was the only way. It was a dramatic and desperate plea for help. The camerlengo was speaking to both his enemy and his friends now. He was entreating anyone, friend or foe, to see the light and stop the madness. The camerlengo kneels at the altar and says, “Pray with me.” The College of Cardinals dropped to their knees to join him in prayer. Outside in St. Peter’s Square and around the globe… a stunned world knelt with them.
In chapter 95, inside the Vatican, Gunther Glick was walking on air as he followed the camerlengo from the Sistine Chapel. He and Macri had just made the live transmission of the decade. The camerlengo had been spellbinding. The camerlengo tells Glick that he has asked the Swiss Guard to assemble photos for him – photos of the branded cardinals as well as one of His late Holiness. He tells Glick that he would like him to broadcast the photos to the world as well as the live video feed of the antimatter canister as it counts down. Glick feels like it’s Christmas, he is so happy. The camerlengo says, “The Illuminati are about to find out that they have grossly overplayed their hand.”
In chapter 96, Langdon tries to escape the sarcophagus he is trapped beneath. He recalls the time in his childhood when he fell into a well and had tread water for five hours before being rescued. That was the event which made him claustrophobic.
In chapter 97, the Hassassin drops Vittoria off at the Church of Illumination, leaving her unconscious on the couch. He gets Cardinal Baggia to finish his final task.
In chapter 98, six firemen who responded to the fire at the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria extinguished the fire with blasts of Halon gas. They find Cardinal Guidera and Olivetti. They also hear a beeping sound coming from the coffin sounding like a bomb. The bomb squad rolls over the coffin and one screams, “Medico!”
In chapter 99, the camerlengo talks to Rocher. When Rocher leaves the Pope’s office, Lieutenant Chartrand tells him that they have a caller who says he has information that can help them and that the caller phoned on one of the Vatican’s private extensions. Rocher answers the phone and the voice on the other line says, “Rocher, I will explain to you who I am. Then I will tell you what you are going to do next.” Rocher listens and is stunned. When the caller hung up, Rocher now knew from whom he was taking orders. Back at CERN, Kohler tells his secretary Sylvie to have his jet be ready in five minutes.
In chapter 100, Langdon opens his eyes after being unconscious for a while. He has an oxygen mask. The paramedic tells him that his watch saved him. Langdon remembers setting the alarm. It is now 10:28. Langdon realizes that everything that had been driving him – helping to save Vatican City, rescuing the four cardinals, coming face to face with the brotherhood he had studied for years – all of those things had evaporated from his mind. A new compulsion had ignited within him. Find Vittoria. Langdon eventually figures out that the next altar of science is at the Piazza Navona, and Bernini’s Fountain of the Four River was there as the final marker. He has to get there quickly, so Langdon steals a sedan.
In chapter 101, Glick and Macri are talking. After the camerlengo’s address, Glick had overheard Rocher giving his men new orders. Apparently Rocher had received a phone call from a mysterious individual who Rocher claimed had critical information regarding the current crisis. Rocher was advising his guards to prepare for the guest’s arrival. Glick reported the news. He had said that a mystery guest was coming to Vatican City to save the day – The 11th Hour Samaritan. Marci is mad at Glick because she thinks he blew it. Glick had added a little of his own conspiracy theory that the new headquarters of the Illuminati were at CERN. Glick wonders about the whereabouts of the Illuminati Diamond, which is a part of the Illuminati myth, and whether it might be yet another mystery he could unveil tonight.
I literally cried when I read chapter 94. I was completely blown away by it. What the camerlengo said was really spiritual and wise and I just thought it was great. That, for me, was the best part of the novel that I’ve read so far. I hope Langdon finds Vittoria before the Hassassin rapes and murders her. That would really suck if he was too late. I also think that the part about the Illuminati Diamond is foreshadowing something to come. I think the diamond will turn up somewhere before the end of the novel.
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