papyrus," Teabing said. "It's too heavy." "I know. It's padding." "For what? The vial of vinegar?"
"No." Sophie unrolled the scroll and revealed what was wrapped inside. "For this."
When Langdon saw the object inside the sheet of vellum, his heart sank.
"God help us," Teabing said, slumping. "Your grandfather was a pitiless architect."
Langdon stared in amazement. I see Sauniere has no intention of making this easy.
On the table sat a second cryptex. Smaller. Made of black onyx. It had been nested within the first. Sauniere's passion for dualism. Two cryptexes.Everything in pairs. Double entendres.Male female.Black nested within white.Langdon felt the web of symbolism stretching onward. White gives birthto black.
Every man sprang from woman. White - female. Black - male.
Reaching over, Langdon lifted the smaller cryptex. It looked identical to the first, except half the size and black. He heard the familiar gurgle. Apparently, the vial of vinegar they had heard earlier was inside this smaller cryptex.
"Well, Robert," Teabing said, sliding the page of vellum over to him. "You'll be pleased to hear that at least we're flying in the right direction." Langdon examined the thick vellum sheet. Written in ornate penmanship was another four-line verse. Again, in iambic pentameter. The verse was cryptic, but Langdon needed to read only as far as the first line to realize that Teabing's plan to come to Britain was going to pay off.
IN LONDON LIES A KNIGHT A POPE INTERRED.
The remainder of the poem clearly implied that the password for opening the second cryptex could be found by visiting this knight's tomb, somewhere in the city.
Langdon turned excitedly to Teabing. "Do you have any idea what knight this poem is referring to?"
Teabing grinned. "Not the foggiest. But I know in precisely which crypt we should look."
At that moment, fifteen miles ahead of them, six Kent police cars streaked down rain-soaked streets toward Biggin Hill Executive Airport.
CHAPTER 79
Lieutenant Collet helped himself to a Perrier from Teabing's refrigerator and strode back out through the drawing room. Rather than accompanying Fache to London where the action was, he was now baby-sitting the PTS team that had spread out through Chateau Villette.
So far, the evidence they had uncovered was unhelpful: a single bullet buried in the floor; a paper with several symbols scrawled on it along with the words blade and chalice; and a bloody spiked belt that PTS had told Collet was associated with the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, which had caused a stir recently when a news program exposed their aggressive recruiting practices in Paris.
Collet sighed. Good luck making sense of this unlikely melange.
Moving down a lavish hallway, Collet entered the vast ballroom study, where the chief PTS examiner was busy dusting for fingerprints. He was a corpulent man in suspenders. "Anything?" Collet asked, entering. The examiner shook his head. "Nothing new. Multiple sets matching those in the rest of the house." "How about the prints on the cilice belt?" "Interpol is still working. I uploaded everything we found."
Collet motioned to two sealed evidence bags on the desk. "And this?" The man shrugged. "Force of habit. I bag anything peculiar." Collet walked over. Peculiar?
"This Brit's a strange one," the examiner said. "Have a look at this." He sifted through the evidence bags and selected one, handing it to Collet.
The photo showed the main entrance of a Gothic cathedral - the traditional, recessed archway, narrowing through multiple, ribbed layers to a small doorway.
Collet studied the photo and turned. "This is peculiar?" "Turn it over." On the back, Collet found notations scrawled in English, describing a cathedral's long hollow nave as a secret pagan tribute to a woman's womb. This was strange. The notation describing the cathedral's doorway, however, was what startled him. "Hold on! He thinks a cathedral's entrance represents a woman's..."
The examiner nodded. "Complete with receding labial ridges and a nice little cinquefoil clitoris above the doorway." He sighed. "Kind of makes you want to go back to church."
Collet picked up the second evidence bag. Through the plastic, he could see a large glossy photograph of what appeared to be an old document. The heading at the top read:
Les Dossiers Secrets - Number 4o lm1 249
"What's this?" Collet asked.
"No idea. He's got copies of it all over the place, so I bagged it." Collet studied the document.
PRIEURE DE SIGN - LES NAUTONIERS/GRAND MASTERS
JEAN DE GISORS
1188-1220
MARIE DE SAINT-CLAIR
1220-1266
GUILLAUME DE GlSORS
1266-1307
EDOUARD DE BAR
1307-1336
JEANNE DE BAR
1336-1351
JEAN DE SAINT-CLAIR
1351-1366
BLANCE D'EVREUX
1366-1398
NICOLAS FLAMEL
1398-1418
RENE D'ANJOU
1418-1480
IOLANDE DE BAR
1480-1483
SANDRO BOTTICELLI
1483-1510
LEONARDO DA VINCI
1510-1519
CONNETABLE DE BOURBON
1519-1527
FERDINAND DE GONZAQUE
1527-1575
LOUIS DE NEVERS
1575-1595
ROBERT FLUDD
1595-1637
J. VALENTIN ANDREA
1637-1654
ROBERT BOYLE
1654-1691
ISAAC NEWTON
1691-1727
CHARLES RADCLYFFE
1727-1746
CHARLES DE LORRAINE
1746-1780
MAXIMILIAN