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was right. Holy wars were still making headlines. My God is better than your God. It seemed there was always close correlation between true believers and high body counts.

"Go on," Kohler said.

Langdon gathered his thoughts and continued. "The Illuminati grew more powerful in Europe and set their sights on America, a fledgling government many of whose leaders were Masons - George Washington, Ben Franklin - honest, God-fearing men who were unaware of the Illuminati stronghold on the Masons. The Illuminati took advantage of the infiltration and helped found banks, universities, and industry to finance their ultimate quest." Langdon paused. "The creation of a single unified world state - a kind of secular New World Order."

Kohler did not move.

"A New World Order," Langdon repeated, "based on scientific enlightenment. They called it their Luciferian Doctrine. The church claimed Lucifer was a reference to the devil, but the brotherhood insisted Lucifer was intended in its literal Latin meaning - bringer of light. Or Illuminator."

Kohler sighed, and his voice grew suddenly solemn. "Mr. Langdon, please sit down."

Langdon sat tentatively on a frost-covered chair.

Kohler moved his wheelchair closer. "I am not sure I understand everything you have just told me, but I do understand this. Leonardo Vetra was one of CERN's greatest assets. He was also a friend. I need you to help me locate the Illuminati."

Langdon didn't know how to respond. "Locate the Illuminati?" He's kidding, right? "I'm afraid, sir, that will be utterly impossible."

Kohler's brow creased. "What do you mean? You won't - "

"Mr. Kohler." Langdon leaned toward his host, uncertain how to make him understand what he was about to say. "I did not finish my story. Despite appearances, it is extremely unlikely that this brand was put here by the Illuminati. There has been no evidence of their existence for over half a century, and most scholars agree the Illuminati have been defunct for many years."

The words hit silence. Kohler stared through the fog with a look somewhere between stupefaction and anger. "How the hell can you tell me this group is extinct when their name is seared into this man!"

Langdon had been asking himself that question all morning. The appearance of the Illuminati ambigram was astonishing. Symbologists worldwide would be dazzled. And yet, the academic in Langdon understood that the brand's reemergence proved absolutely nothing about the Illuminati.

"Symbols," Langdon said, "in no way confirm the presence of their original creators."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that when organized philosophies like the Illuminati go out of existence, their symbols remain... available for adoption by other groups. It's called transference. It's very common in symbology. The Nazis took the swastika from the Hindus, the Christians adopted the cruciform from the Egyptians, the - "

"This morning," Kohler challenged, "when I typed the word 'Illuminati' into the computer, it returned thousands of current references. Apparently a lot of people think this group is still active."

"Conspiracy buffs," Langdon replied. He had always been annoyed by the plethora of conspiracy theories that circulated in modern pop culture. The media craved apocalyptic headlines, and self-proclaimed "cult specialists" were still cashing in on millennium hype with fabricated stories that the Illuminati were alive and well and organizing their New World Order. Recently the New York Times had reported the eerie Masonic ties of countless famous men - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the Duke of Kent, Peter Sellers, Irving Berlin, Prince Philip, Louis Armstrong, as well as a pantheon of well-known modern-day industrialists and banking magnates.

Kohler pointed angrily at Vetra's body. "Considering the evidence, I would say perhaps the conspiracy buffs are correct."

"I realize how it appears," Langdon said as diplomatically as he could. "And yet a far more plausible explanation is that some other organization has taken control of the Illuminati brand and is using it for their own purposes."

"What purposes? What does this murder prove?"

Good question, Langdon thought. He also was having trouble imagining where anyone could have turned up the Illuminati brand after 400 years. "All I can tell you is that even if the Illuminati were still active today, which I am virtually positive they are not, they would never be involved in Leonardo Vetra's death."

"No?"

"No. The Illuminati may have believed in the abolition of Christianity, but they wielded their power through political and financial means, not through terrorists acts. Furthermore, the Illuminati had a strict code of morality regarding who they saw as enemies. They held men of science in the highest regard. There is no way they would have murdered a fellow